Designing Game Mechanics - Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design - page 22

Particular structures exist in game mechanics that contribute strongly to emergent
gameplay. In the following two chapters, we will explore this structural perspective
on game mechanics in more detail, and we will use that perspective to create a prac-
tical method and design tool to help design game mechanics.
Exercises
1. Practice your prototype skills. Translate an existing video game to a paper
prototype.
2. Find a relevant reference game for a game that you want to build. Explain what
aspect of the reference game is useful in illustrating the kind of game you have
in mind.
3. Find examples of discrete mechanisms and continuous mechanisms in a pub-
lished game for each of the five types of game mechanism described in this chapter
(physics, internal economy, progression, tactical maneuvering, and social interac-
tion). Don't use any of the examples given in this chapter.